Multiple pen comprising a plurality of writing points of different colors



Sept. 27, 1966 F. LEVOIN 3,274,976

MULTIPLE PEN COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF WRITING POINTS OF DIFFERENTCOLORS Filed Dec. 17, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F/'g.5 Fig.4

[AMA/a: [[Vonv ATTORNEY INVENTOR.

F. LEVOIN 3,274,976 MULTIPLE PEN COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF WRITING Sept.27, 1966 POINTS OF DIFFERENT COLORS 2 Sheets-$heet 2 Filed Dec. 17, 1964INVENTOR [RA/Wm Z EVU/A/ BY q M W ATTORNEY United States Patent M steinFiled Dec. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 419,063 Claims priority, applicationSwitzerland, June 27, 1964, 8,474/ 64 4 Claims. (Cl. 120-42.13)

The present invention relates to a multiple pen comprising a pluralityof writing points of different colors and means for bringing the desiredpoint to the writing position by compressing the associated coaxialspring and automatically retracting all the other points.

The pen of the invention is characterized in that each writing point hasthe upper free end of its ink tube provided with a pushbutton fixedthereto and protruding from the pen cap portion, said pushbutton beingprovided, towards the inside of the pen, with projections and cavitiesadapted to cooperate with cavities and projections of an inner blockingmember or the like which is common to all the push buttons and iscapable of performing an elastic torsional movement, the cavities andthe projections of the push buttons and of the blocking member being soshaped and arranged that, in the first portion of the down stroke of apush button which is originally in rest position, said member, byrotating releases all the remaining pushbuttons and hence also the onewhich in that moment is in writing position, urging the last one to goback to its rest position. In the successive stroke portion, on thecontrary, the blocking member resiliently extends to reassume its normalposition in which it holds the pushbutton down for the writing.

In order that invention may be fully and clearly understood the samewill now be described with reference to the accompanying drawingsillustrating a preferred, non-limitative embodiment of a four color pen.The number of the colors may obviously vary from a minimum of two to anynumber which is merely limited by the overall dimensions of the pen.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an axial section of a pen with the left writ ing point inwriting position and the right one retracted or in rest position.

FIG. 2 is the side view of a push button only.

FIG. 3 is the front view on the pushbutton of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a plan view on the pushbutton of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is the cross section taken along the plane VV of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a view of the inner elastic block member with all itsadditional portions made in a single piece which is molded from elasticsynthetic material.

FIG. 7 is a cross section of the piece of FIG. 6 taken along the plane7-7.

FIG. 8 is a section of the piece of FIG. 6 taken along the cross plane8--8 FIGS. 90, 9b, 9c, 9d show different positions the two push buttonsof FIG. 1 take while the right (in FIG. 1) writing point passes from therest to its writing position.

FIG. 10a is a cross section of FIG. 9a taken along the plane 10a10a.

FIG. 10b is a cross section of FIG. 9b taken along plane 10-12-1012.

FIG. 100 is a cross section of the FIG. 90 taken along the plane10'c-10c.

FIG. 10d is a cross section of FIG. 9d taken along the plane Hid-10d.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1: the pen of this embodimentcomprises four writing points, only two of which, namely points 1 and 3,are visible in FIG. 1,

3,274,976 Patented Sept. 27, 1966 while the remaining ones are disposedin the holes 6 and 8 of the drum 9 shown in FIG. 8.

Each writing point is fixed at its upper end to a small tube 1012 et-c.filled with ink, which carries at its upper end a push button 15-17protruding from the cap portion 19 of the pen.

Each push button, for instance pushbutton 17 (FIGS. 2 and 3), isprovided with projections 21, 22, 23 directed towards the inside of thepen and defining cavities 24, 25 which are adapted to cooperate with thecavities 26 and projections 27 (FIGS. 6 and 7) of the blocking memberlocated in the inside of the pen.

Said blocking member affects with its cavities 26 and projections 27 allthe pushbuttons and is capable of an elastic torsional movement impartedthereto from the torsion bar 30 (FIG. 6) that is fixed to or, evenbetter, is formed in a single piece with the member and has, at itsupper end, a cylindrical portion 31 and, at its lower end, a drum 9 asis clearly represented in FIGS. 6 and l.

The springs 32, 34, etc. which are coaxial with the small tubes 10, 12etc. press with their upper ends 32',

34 against the base of the corresponding pushbutton and,

with their lower ends, 32", 34 against the drum 9.

Going back to FIG. 2 and 3, note the particular form of the projectionsof each pushbutton and especially of the central projection 22 whichperforms the most important function.

Said central projection 22 is provided at its lower end with an inclinedplane 22 which causes the rotational movement of the blocking member andhence the torsional movement of the torsion bar 30* when the pushbuttonpasses from its highest position i.e. of rest to the lower Writingposition.

During this displacement of the pushbutton, the lower inclined surface22 of the central projection 22 comes across a projection 27 of theblocking member and dis places the same thereby urging the member torotate in an anticlockwise sense while the abovementioned projection 22slides within the cavity 26 to reach its lowest possible position.

The operation of the pen of the invention is as follows: let us assumethat the pushbutton 15 (FIG. 1) is pressed down so that thecorresponding point 1 is in writing position and that the point 3, whichis initially in its rest position, as are the other points, should nowbe brought into writing position. To this end it will suflice to presson the pushbutton 17 in the direction of the arrow 40 i.e. downwards sothat its inclined surface 22' (FIG. 3) comes to abut against aprojection 27 of the blocking. member, displacing the same, therebyurging the member to rotate in a clockwise sense (if one looks frombelow i.e. in the sense of the cross section of FIG. 7) and the bar 30to perform a torsional movement.

As soon as the torsional bar 30 has completely performed its torsionalmovement the pushbutton 15 disengages from the projection 27 of theblocking member i.e. the projection 27 comes out from the correspondingcavity 24. As a result, by virtue of the expansion of the spring 32, thewriting point 1 passes from the illustrated writing position to theupper rest position, thereby leaving the space free for the point 3 toemerge for writing. During this phase the whole projection 22 of thepushbutton 17 slides through the cavity 26 of the blocking member. Oncethe cavity 24 has been reached the blocking member may resilientlyresume its initial position by rotating in a clockwise direction byvirtue of the elastic extension of the torsion bar 30.

In this way the blocking member blocks the pushbutton 17 holding thesame in the writing position while all the remaining pushbuttons arekept at rest.

To facilitate downward sliding movement each pushbutton is provided withprojections 45 or equivalent knurlmgs.

By virue of the wedge like shape of the surfaces 21' and 22 (FIG. 3)this detail being of great importance, the wedging action of theprojections 27 is improved by increasing the pressure on the writingpoint.

On the other side, the cavity 23' of the lower projection 23 allows forthe projection 27 to wedge in its rest position, thereby facilitatingthe sliding along the inclined surface 22' at the beginning of themovement which brings the push button down for writing.

The several components are each manufactured by pressing or molding fromplastic material.

The pushbuttons are all identical to each other but differently coloredin accordance to the color of the ink contained in the associated tube.Each pushbutton presents a lower shank 17 which is pressed on the upperend of the associated tube 12.

The blocking member may be formed in a single piece with its uppercylindrical portion 31, its torsion bar 30 and its bored drum 9 (FIG.6), said piece being made of a material such as nylon or any othersynthetic resin which is sufficiently resilient to undergo the elastictorsional movements but still sufficiently rigid to have the projections27 act on the rigid surfaces of the corresponding projections of thepushbuttons.

The form of the various components of the pen of the invention may bevaried as allowed by the appended claims without therefore departingfrom the spirit of the present invention.

The blocking member may be made of two or more elements although it ispreferable to have it formed of a single piece.

What is claimed is:

1. A multiple pen comprising a plurality of elongated writing elementswithin an elongated casing, each said element having a point for writingwith a diiferent colored ink, said elements being individuallylengthwise reciprocable between extended Writing position and retractedposition, resilient means continuously urging all said writing elementstoward said retracted position, a blocking member rotatable about saidaxis and about which said writing elements are disposed, said blockingmember having alternate cavities and projections about its periphery,each writing element having three inwardly extending projections spacedapart lengthwise along its upper end, the

upper two of said three projections being spaced apart by a first cavityand the lower two of said three projections being spaced apart by asecond cavity, the upper and middle of said three projections havingdownwardly in clined lower surfaces that incline in the same direction,said downwardly inclined surface of said upper projection bearingagainst a blocking member projection when the associated writing elementis in said writing position, said inclined surface of said middleprojection bearing against a blocking member projection when theassociated said element is in said retracted position, said inclinedsurfaces being directed in a sense to impose torque about said axis onsaid blocking member projections.

2. A pen as claimed in claim 1, the lowermost of said three projectionshaving an upwardly opening recess therein for the reception of aprojection of said blocking member.

3. A pen as claimed in claim 1, said blocking member comprising aunitary member including a torsion bar extending below said blockingmember projections, and a lower drum having a plurality of borestherethrough for the reception of said elements, said blocking memberprojections and said drum being angularly displaceable relative to eachother only by twisting of said torsion rod.

4. A pen as claimed in claim 1, the upper surface of said middleprojection being inclined in the same sense as its under surface so asto wedge the associated blocking member projection upon the applicationof writing pressure to the tip of the extended writing element.

References Cited by the Examiner FOREIGN PATENTS 1,356,298 2/1964France.

915,905 7/ 1954 Germany. 1,099,392 2/1961 Germany.

LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner.

1. A MULTIPLE PEN COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED WRITING ELEMENTSWITHIN AN ELONGATED CASING, EACH SAID ELEMENT HAVING A POINT FOR WRITINGWITH AN DIFFERENT COLORED INK, SAID ELEMENTS BEING INDIVIDUALLYLENGTHWISE RECIPROCABLE BETWEEN EXTENDED WRITING POSITION AND RETRACTEDPOSITION, RESILIENT MEANS CONTINUOUSLY URGING ALL SAID WRITING ELEMENTSTOWARD SAID RETRACTED POSITION, A BLOCKING MEMBER ROTATABLE ABOUT SAIDAXIS AND ABOUT WHICH SAID WRITING ELEMENTS ARE DISPOSED, SAID BLOCKINGMEMBER HAVING ALTERNATE CAVITIES AND PROJECTIONS ABOUT ITS PERIPHERY,EACH WRITING ELEMENT HAVING THREE INWARDLY EXTENDING PROJECTIONS SPACEDAPART LENGTHWISE ALONG ITS UPPER END, THE UPPER TWO OF SAID THREEPROJECTIONS BEING SPACED APART BY A FIRST CAVITY AND THE LOWER TWO OFSAID THREE PROJECTIONS BEING SPACED APART BY A SECOND CAVITY, THE UPPERAND MIDDLE OF SAID THREE PROJECTIONS HAVING DOWNWARDLY INCLINED LOWERSURFACES THAT INCLINE IN THER SAME DIRECTION, SAID DOWNWARDLY INCLINEDSURFACE OF SAID UPPER PROJECTION BEARING AGAINST A BLOCKING MEMBERPROJECTION WHEN THE ASSOCIATED WRITING ELEMENT IS IN SAID WRITINGPOSITION, SAID INCLINED SURFACE OF SAID MIDDLE PROJECTION BEARINGAGAINST A BLOCKING MEMBER PROJECTION WHEN THE ASSOCIATED SAID ELEMENT ISIN SAID RETRACTED POSITION, SAID INCLINED SURFACES BEING DIRECTED IN ASENSE TO IMPOSE TORQUE ABOUT SAID AXIS ON SAID BLOCKING MEMBERPROJECTIONS.